Preliminary auction clearance rate at lowest level since April 2020

Auction clearance rates remain at levels last seen during the early months of the COVID pandemic, with the preliminary combined capitals result falling to 51.1% last week, the lowest outcome since the week ending April 26th, 2020. The preliminary result is down from 54.5% the week prior, which revised back to 49.0%, the first time the final capital city clearance rate has been below 50% since May 2020.

The weak result was on lower volume, with 1,182 capital city homes taken to auction last week, down 55.5% relative to the week prior. The drop in auction volume can be attributed to the Kings Birthday long weekend in most states (except Qld and WA). The volume was also 13.9% down on a year ago – a time when housing conditions were accelerating after two rate cuts.

Sydney was the most active auction market last week, with 491 homes going under the hammer, a 50% drop from the week prior and 21% lower than this time last year. The preliminary clearance rate rose slightly last week, from 51.8% the previous week (revised lower to 46.5% once finalised) to 52.9%, which was the third lowest early clearance rate so far this year.

Melbourne recorded an early clearance rate of 52.3% last week, a sharp drop from the week prior (58.1% which revised down to 51.9% once finalised). This is the lowest preliminary clearance rate since September 2021. The volume of auctions also fell sharply, down 67% from the week prior to 422 last week.

138 auctions were held in Brisbane last week. Despite the absence of a long weekend, Brisbane volumes also fell sharply, down 30% from the week prior. The preliminary clearance rate of 31.9% was the lowest since May 2020.

Adelaide hosted 79 auctions last week, 40% lower than the previous week and 4% lower than the same week a year ago. The preliminary clearance rate, at 64.2%, was the third lowest so far this year.

The ACT saw 36 homes go under the hammer last week, a 52% drop in volume week-on-week. The preliminary clearance rate of 50% was a sharp rise from the previous weeks multi-year low point of 39.1%.

There were 14 auctions held in Perth last week, with 72.7% reporting a successful result so far. Only two auctions were held in Tasmania last week, one of which sold under the hammer.

The volume of auctions is scheduled to bounce back this week, with around 2,200 homes currently scheduled to go under the hammer, falling back to less than 2,000 next week.